the reluctant heroes
by MoonbirdsMelody
Summary: For a century, humanity has lived in peace behind the walls. For a century, they almost forgotten about the horrors that existed beyond those walls. That all changed the day the Titans broke through. Attack on Titan AU. Rated M for Violence. {Previously posted on Tumblr}


_Seidihr das Essen?_

 _(Are you the food?)_

 _Neir, wir sind der Jäger!_

 _(No, we are the hunters!)_

—

The sun's bright rays felt heavy against their backs, its heat burning through their uniform jackets. They all stood in a line, row by row, side by side, with their hands folded behind their backs in a military fashion. Their eyes all stared ahead with no glimmer of emotions within them, not a smile nor a twitch of a muscle. A man with an intimidating aura stared down at them, his dark eyes scrutinizing every inch of them. He paced around them, his mere presence causing shivers to run up and down a few of their spines. The rest remain standing still.

The Drill Sergeant stopped in front a girl for a moment. She was tall for a girl her age, with bronze skin that glistened under the sun's harsh light and downturned eyes which were dark as coal. There was something odd about her, though it was not something the Sergeant had not seen before. Her eyes lacked fear, as if they have already seen the worse. As if they have witnessed every possible scenario that screamed terror. _She was there_ , he concluded.

He turned his eyes away from her and continued to pace around. He caught a few others with the same eyes as the girl—cold and apathetic—a lithe girl with auburn hair, a boy with rough dark curls and calloused fingertips, and another young boy with golden locks thin limbs. He continued to walk until he finally spotted a boy with reddish brown hair and freckles that danced across his nose. His green eyes, unlike the others, possessed a childlike innocence.

"Who are you, boy?!" the Sergeant demanded. His voice was strong, and it dripped of hostility.

The boy quickly clenched his left hand into a fist and placed it against the right side of his chest, over his heart, while his right arm remained behind his back. "Marius Pontmercy from the Shiganshina District, Sir!"

"And why the hell are you here?!"

"To help humanity's fight against the Titans, sir!"

"Well I got news for you, Pontmercy," the Sergeant said. His voice lowered and he leaned closer so that his face was only inches away. "The only help you'd provide would be serving yourself as lunch for the Titans."

Marius' mouth fell open, his eyes wide with shock. His mind struggled to process the Sergeant's words; he had no time to respond as the Sergeant continued on to the next victim. He stopped once he spotted a dark skinned boy with a carefree countenance. His shoulders were slouched and he reeked of alcohol. His dark eyes, although it lacked emotion, was also missing any sign of respect that the others held. "And who the hell are you?"

"Darien Grantaire from the Trost District," the boy replied with a lazy grin.

"Why are you here, Grantaire?"

The boy shrugged in response. Big mistake.

With his hand clenched tightly in a fist, he pulled it back, gathering all the strength he could before he brought it forward, landing a punch on the boy's gut. Grantaire fell to his knees, his arms wrapping around his torso as if he was trying to keep all his organs inside. "I don't have time to waste on the likes of you," the Drill Sergeant maintained a calm voice, which only enhanced the intimidating presence he possessed. "You either answer the fucking question verbally, or you walk."

"I want to join the Military Police," Grantaire spat out between breaths. His left hand clutched his abdomen while his right dug dirt from the ground, the veins in his arm popping out as he did so. He struggled to regulate his breathing. All the while, the Sergeant stared down with no sign of sympathy.

"Of course you are," he sneered. "You look like the type of guy that's looking for a ticket to the easy life."

He slowly crouched down to the boy's level, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the pathetic creature. "You want to know something?" He waited for a minute of silence to pass before he _answered_. "Nobody's gonna live an easy life; there's no such thing. We're only at peace when we're dead."

This continued until he broke every single cadet's spirit.

 _..._

 _No one knew where they came from; they just appeared out of nowhere. One moment, all of humanity was fine, the next they were being eaten by Titans._

After years of fighting off Titans and staying alive, what was left of humanity hid behind three walls. These walls stood exactly fifty meters high, and each circled one another with cities separating each. These walls were named accordingly and were listed from outermost to innermost: Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina. Those that were financially fortunate lived within Wall Sina, along with the King, while those with barely enough to get by were left to reside behind Wall Maria.

For a century, the three walls protected humanity from the Titans. That was until the Colossal Titan left a gaping hole in Wall Maria.

 _..._

Once the day was through, they all changed into their regular clothing and gathered to the cabin for dinner. The cabin was not large, but neither were the number of cadets that decided to stay. They all sat at the tables with their tray of food in front of them, some devouring every bit of it with no room to chew. Between bites, they would all exchange words with one another, words that explained where they're been, where they came from, and so on. One table was specifically loud, and though it irked Grantaire, he refused to let it show

Marius sat quietly, relishing the taste of mashed potatoes and gravy. On the other side of the table, Eponine took her time in eating; her coal eyes were focused on something other than her dinner. A large number of cadets surrounded their table, every single one of them with wide eyes and mouths gaping open. Sitting between Marius and Eponine was the golden boy, who was currently the center of attention. With an air of unquestionable power and a voice that could command an entire army, Alexis Enjolras recounted everything he could remember of that fateful day.

"Was it really big?" asked a petite girl with yellow locks and a porcelain complexion. Her voice was soft and she radiated a warm and calm aura that reminded one of sunshine and beautiful meadows. She looked elegant and fragile, as if she was one those few who were fortunate enough to live within the inner most wall, where struggling to survive was the least of their worries. She caught Marius' attention and his cheeks reddened when their eyes met for a brief second. "I heard it was about a hundred meters tall."

"I heard it was able to straddle the wall," a boy with nappy dark hair said through a mouth full of food, enunciating each word surprisingly well

"Really?!" a boy with disheveled brown hair exclaimed. Behind his glasses, his teal eyes gleamed with excitement at the idea of a titan that stood a hundred meters tall. "Oh my god, I wish I could have seen it!"

Most of the young cadets regarded the boy with bewildered eyes. "He must be crazy," one muttered, stating what most of them honestly thought but were too polite to voice out loud.

Enjolras merely shook his head, a few of his blond locks falling over his eyes. He took a sip of his soup before, enjoying the sound of his slurping. "It wasn't a hundred meters tall, more like fifty. And it didn't step over the wall, it was only able to look over the wall."

"What about the regular titans?" asked a girl with long, curly auburn hair and freckles that danced across her visage in disarray. Her emerald eyes with sparkling with genuine curiosity. "What were they like?"

A scream resounded within his memories and Enjolras almost choked on his food. Eponine was already on red alert, her hands out stretched towards him, hovering over him like a mother would her child. Grantaire observed the girl's reaction carefully, regarding the way her black eyes stared at the golden haired boy. He could only infer that the two had a relationship that went deeper, beyond that of friendship.

"Stop it, guys," the yellow haired girl—who Marius later learned is called Cosette—said with a hint of concern in her accent. "Can't you see we're triggering memories?"

Enjolras clenched his jaw; he straightened his shoulders before raising his ice blue eyes that burned with an overwhelming passion. It caught Grantaire's attention, another thing he will not admit. "The titans are nothing," Enjolras began to speak. "If he train hard enough, we can all defeat the titans and finally claim what is ours."

"We're not defeating anything," Grantaire found himself saying without a thought. All eyes shifted to him, including Enjolras. "Humanity has been living within these walls for a hundred years. A hundred years of living in fear. Do you really think that all of humanity are all just going to one day gather all their courage and fight these human-eating giants?"

"Well then we have to fight," he responded quickly, his voice raising a pitch louder. "We cannot live the remainders of our lives suppressed by these monsters, hiding in cages and living as livestock!"

He slammed both his hands against the wooden table, the sound echoed loudly and startled everyone in the cabin. He pushed himself from his seat and towered over the table. Every single being in the cabin turned their eyes to him, watching every move he made and every breath he took. "If we don't fight, then we can't win."

With that said, he left the cabin, Eponine following closely behind him like she always has and always will.


End file.
